Does whether or not a person use drugs affect your opinion of them?

[Life]

This is something I'm rather curious to hear about from you all. For the most part, the usage of drugs is illegal everywhere (bar medical reasons), and is an activity a lot of people take part in.

So what I was wondering is whether or not your opinion changes on someone if you find out they do drugs. Like, say, you know this one guy/gal and you think they're an okay person, but find out a few days later they do drugs. Does your opinion change on them? Do you think lower of them, or perhaps higher of them for doing such an act? Or does it not affect your opinion of them at all? Maybe it depends on the type of drug?

For me, it doesn't really affect my opinion of them. I do have somewhat of a bias though in that it always surprises me when I find out that "nice people" do drugs, but I am constantly surprised by how many people I know do drugs and are still nice people. Of course, this is a rather silly assumption by me, but the idea that all people who do drugs are horrible people has unfortunately been reinforced in my mind quite a bit when I was growing up.

Anyways, what do you think?

 

[LordGarcholf]

Everyone makes their own decisions about their lives etc. I don't care about others' decisions even as I personally don't support using drugs, so it really depends. I dislike the behavior and attitude changes that happen when a person's mind is affected by drugs, but the person wouldn't be necessarily bad.
However, if they chose drugs and relationships formed around them over honest and healthy relations, I wouldn't think highly of the person either. I wouldn't be friends with a person like it and would avoid dealing with someone like this.

Even some legal medicines are drugs, due to the same effect on people's minds - due to personal experience related to that, it opened my eyes about many things related to this subject. When younger, I would have picked that I think lowly of the person, but life isn't really that black-and-white.

Still, I'm very skeptical about people commonly; one reason why I don't want to make hasty judgements about them or what they do in their personal lives - my attitude would easily go much worse if so. I have enough individuals on my "think very lowly of them"-list too, it doesn't need any unnecessary additions. :'D if they come screwing my life, it's a whole different thing.

 

[Chibster]

I am really not one to judge people, but based on the people who take part of doing drugs in my school, I wouldn't trust them and I would never think good of them. Many of these people do poorly in school, cut class to do drugs or smoke, and some have even got arrested.

I once had a crush on this guy who sat next to me in class, actually looked nice, and he was really nice to me. However, I was immediately turned off when he told me he does drugs (sells them as well), smokes, and has been arrested twice. On top of that, he gave me his tumblr and 100% of his posts were pictures of weed and other drugs. I could never hang out with anyone who's obsessed with all this stuff.

 

[Lysson]

I don't think they're the scum of the earth but I do disapprove of what they're doing.
I will let them off if they do it for religious purposes but it has to be controlled. If they are doing it for medical purposes (yes some people do take typically illegal drugs for medical purposes but what they're doing isn't illegal as it'd have to be prescribed by a doctor) then that is completely fine.

Generally I stay away from people who do drugs as they tend to be dangerous. Not to be mean but when I find out that someone does drugs my opinion of them does drastically drop.

 

[Tyrfing]

I wouldn't hang out with a drug-abuser, but I certainly wouldn't hate them, either, even if I don't view them as highly. That said, I'd try to persuade them to stop, but if they don't... I'd just let them continue. Their life, not mine.

 

[Paleo]

Depends on the kind of drug. If I find out someone smokes weed, then that's positive.
If I would find out that someone does heroin or cocain (which hasn't happened yet), I would not approve of that

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Depends on the drug. I'm neutral about marijuana, however for some reason here a lot of weed consumers are hell of posers, and that's a bit annoying.

Hard drug consumers are a big nope for me, but if it's a longtime friend I guess I'd try to persuade him/her to leave.

Also, certain drugs or excessive consumption (even for something "soft" as weed or alcohol) can change a person, and if a person changes, my opinion of this person may change as well.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

This staff has decided this topic is better for Serious Business due to the seriousness of the subject matter, so it has been moved from OtB.

 

[dig]

Smoke weed? Fine, it'll be legal soon anyway.
Take acid now and then? Fine, just stay safe.
Addicted to heroin? You should stop, get help.

Depends entirely on the drug and the dependency.

 

[Life]

I'm a bit surprised by the answers! I had thought most people would be leaning towards "I don't really care; it's not me".

I will let them off if they do it for religious purposes but it has to be controlled..

In what religions is the usage of drugs a thing for ceremonies/rituals/prayer sessions? I wasn't aware that there were any, so this is rather interesting to me.

 

[CrackFox]

I agree with Baf. Depends on what type of drug we are talking about. If it's weed then no, not really. My brothers smoked weed in their teenage years so i'd be a hypocrite to judge others for it if I didn't judge them. With things like Heroin and Cocaine I do have a pre-conceived interpretation of users but it's not so much the drugs that I have a problem with, it's the stereotypical behavior associated with addiction to them. If it's occassionally just for a thrill then I think that's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not good for you and it's not a smart thing to do but some people are willing to go that extra mile for their kicks.

I think the better question for me would be does being an addict affect my opinion of you, the answer would be yes. I wouldn't really want to associate myself with an addict but not because I look down on them, just because I personally would find someone doing that to themselves to be quite distressing and wouldn't want to be around that.

 

[jayrachi]

Other than the old saying "never trust an addict," a person doing drugs does not affect my thoughts or opinion of them.

 

[Jolene]

While I personally see doing drugs as a terrible lifestyle choice, I really don't care as long as the drugs don't cause drastic behavioral changes or generally erratic behavior. I also do not wish to be invited to partake in said drugs.

If it was a close friend I'd probably say something like "Hey drugs are bad I don't want you to die" but they most likely know that already.

 

[Lysson]

I will let them off if they do it for religious purposes but it has to be controlled..

In what religions is the usage of drugs a thing for ceremonies/rituals/prayer sessions? I wasn't aware that there were any, so this is rather interesting to me.

The main one I was thinking of was Shamanism however Hindus may smoke weed for a ritual (can't remember what one) though both religions have checks on it because they won't want anyone having a bad trip or getting addicted.

I don't know of any other religion that uses drugs.

 

[Soki]

I'm very much against every form of drugs, even though soft drugs are legal here (biggest reason people visit my country *sigh*) and I am for legalizing more forms of drugs to try and stop drug-related crime.

And even though I know there's lots of nice and fun people who do drugs, I just can't help but have a negative opinion of people who do it. I wouldn't quickly become friends with someone if I knew they use drugs, same goes for 'regular' smoking.

People who use drugs for medical purposes are an exception of course.

 

[Bolt Strike]

It depends on how often, if they're a full on addict and can't go without them that's a huge problem. But if they use it more responsibility, like say every few days, I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[Absent]

It depends, too many factors.

What kind of relationship do I have with that person? What kind of drug are they using? Is it a gateway drug? How much do they take a week? WHY are they taking it? Do they come up every time in conversation? Has this person dedicated their days to the drug?

For me the big no no are: They're gateway drugs, harsh drugs, their whole lives revolve around it, can't have a normal conversation without them being brought into it, or they use them in front of me against my wishes. I do make exceptions if the person is using them for emotional validation/comfort. My best friend(who's also my neighbor) did a bunch of them because his home situation was horrible, so I stayed by his side and helped him find other activities to partake in. Its really hard if they become addicted, so they need help from others to get better and break the pattern.

 

[Osprey]

Like a lot of people have said, it depends on what they're using. Weed... eh. I wish they wouldn't do it, but it's not as debilitating as other drugs. Now, if they're hooked on the kind that leaves them dependent on the stuff and destroys them mentally and physically... I'm going to think badly of them, and I'd probably avoid the. Last thing I need is to get influenced into getting addicted myself.

 

[Crimson Phantom]

I tend to have a negative outlook on the person who is using the drugs in question.
To me it doesn't matter what drug it is really.
Personally, I have not had the best experiences with people who were on the lightest of drugs. (MJ)
I was honestly surprised when I found out that my sister and her boyfriend stole money from my (at the time) baby brother's piggy bank.
That was just disgusting in my eyes. Not only that, they continued to steal from my mother's house until they were inevitably evicted by my grandmother.

 

[Dr. Buni]

I honestly couldn't care less about what people use or don't use.